


Caught in the Open

by zillah975



Series: An Unkindness of Ravens [3]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-25
Updated: 2014-10-25
Packaged: 2018-02-22 13:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2509628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zillah975/pseuds/zillah975
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An old enemy of the Devilclaw finds Seya near the Dark Portal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caught in the Open

Seya’s poisoned daggers glittered in the harsh sun as she beat back the felhounds and their demonic handler. The sentry and his pet she could have handled with hardly a scratch, but the second hound that had hurled itself into the fray was turning the whole thing against her, and her pulse raced with the exhilaration of battle. They pressed her hard. She readied herself to retreat.

Then in a flash of blinding light and terrible sound, all three of them lay dead or dying at her feet. Seya whirled to find her rescuer, but the sight of him struck her cold with fear.

Ravenhul. The Sin’dorei paladin had already abducted and brutalized one of the Outlaws in a mad scheme to force their leader's surrender for some imagined crime. When they'd met before she hadn't been close enough to see the demonic tattoos that covered the left side of his face, disappearing beneath his heavy, darkly gleaming armor. They turned what might have been a handsome visage horrifying.

But why hadn’t he cut her down?

Perhaps he didn’t recognize her. Surely he wouldn’t expect to see the inexperienced Prospect of the Outlaws here so close to the Dark Portal, and she looked different now, too, covered in sweat and grime, her new armor stained with blood, her hair falling around her shoulders in lank tangles. And he’d been so focused on Araane and Ottavia when they’d gone to steal Hooves back from him…though there had been those few insults Seya had delivered. Sometimes she regretted her own temper.

But maybe he really didn't know her, and bore some shred of chivalry despite his brutal treatment of Hooves.

She gave him a grateful wave as if she’d never seen him before in her long life.  _Oh Elune, please don’t let him know me._  “Thank you,” she said, and her voice was cracked and shaking, her heart still pounding out of her chest.

Ravenhul laughed, and his lips curved into a malevolent smile. His bright green eyes stared directly into hers. There was no doubt now — he knew just who she was. Seya’s fingers grew numb and cold despite the blazing heat. “Come with me, or die….”

So much for Elune’s blessing. The Goddess surely had better things to do than help a half-trained priestess who had abandoned her calling and was now foolish enough to be caught out in the open by this particular Sin’dorei.

She scowled at him as fiercely as she could manage. “Come with you and I  _don’t_  die, is that what you want me to think? Don’t make me laugh.” As if she could have.

"So be it…." He unsheathed a black and crimson blade that gleamed in the sun, beautiful and vicious, and before Seya could so much as ready her own daggers, he plunged it into her body. Her eyes widened and she fell to her knees, then to the stony ground, insensible from shock.

"Filthy Night Elf…" she heard him mutter. "Scum." His footsteps retreated.

Her blood was seeping into the dirt. The roaring in her ears was the ocean; the blinding sun above, the light of Elune. So easy to lie here and let the strife of this world pass away from her, but she forced her trembling hands to her pouch for the flask of healing potion she carried. She had to tell Ottavia and the others that Ravenhul hadn’t given up on his plan of abduction, and Araane would never forgive her if she let herself die out here alone in this sun-blasted landscape.

With the first swallow of the potion she felt her bleeding slow, and her torn flesh begin to knit. She struggled to sit up and began unbuckling her armor so she could see to the injury, and there beneath her fingers she felt the little enchanted pocket watch that Commander Dawnbringer had given her in return for dispatching that wretched assassin. It was dented where the Sin’dorei’s blade had struck it. She curled her fingers around it and closed her eyes. Perhaps Elune was watching over her after all — or perhaps it was only luck. But whatever the reason, she was alive, and she planned to stay that way.

**Author's Note:**

> The description of Ravenhul Thaladrad and all his quotes are from my chat log. I also want to mention that Ravenhul’s player was thoughtful enough to include a bit about Ravenhul not realizing he’d missed Seya’s vital organs, which I appreciated muchly.


End file.
